o 

c: 


Opportunities    in   the 
South 

By 


I 


fv 


>;- 


>;•* 


w-tsfc 


s*  y 


,"-\ 


HZk 


■■'& 


p$ 


:X&?. 


'ii/& 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT    LOS  ANGELES 


H 


OPPORTUNITIES  IN 
THE   SOUTH 


Jlddress  Delivered  Before  the 

Southern  Land  Congress 

November  12,  1918 


(BY 
H.  T.  CORY 

CONSULTING     ENGINEER 

UNITED  STATES  RECLAMATION  SERVICE 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


J  .  •>.  j   .    .    .          **.          •           ••»        ■•.**•!•••■ 
.  \  •  .     -  »  .    .'  • •..••*•••••• 

i     •.  «       «      •»        •      •  °»*  *      *  ***   *  *       ••      •    »   •     •  » 

.  -  <   .*•       ..    !.  *  .*• •.    '.      •  ••    ••'. 

>.».     ...•••«••      •       •        ••    •     .  .'.  .••    . 

,    -      ".*.•••     ••->  •••  •  •••.•    ■     •  ..•  .  \. 

Distributed  by 
Gat-Over  Land  Department 

Southern  Pine  Association 

New  Orleans,  La. 


*    •      •     •  *  * 
t   •   *•    #     • 


•    •   •      •    *     • 


•    « 

*      ■  k 


^ 


HID 

U5C8 

Opportunities  In  the  South 

["The  national  importance  of  the  remarkable  statements 
made  in  the  following  article  is  emphasized  by  reason  of 
Mr.  Cory's  pre-eminence  in  the  engineering  world,  and 
by  the  fact  that  he  is  not  now  and  never  has  been  identified 
with  the  South  or  with  Southern  development.  Born  in 
the  West  and  living  in  California,  Mr.  Cory  has  been  making 
for  the  United  States  Reclamation  Service  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Interior  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  resources 
and  advantages  of  the  South.  The  statements  which  he 
makes  in  regard  to  the  South  should,  therefore,  be  studied 
in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  they  are  not  made  by  a  Southern 
man,  or  one  who  has  ever  been  identified  with  Southern 
activities." — Editor    Manufacturers    Record. 

The  press  throughout  the  country  has  similarly  endorsed 
and  advocated  the  plans  of  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Franklin 
K.  Lane  and  his  associates.  Mr.  Cory  is  in  charge  of  in- 
vestigation in  the  South.]* 


Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I  am  convinced  that  a  very  large  minority,  if 
indeed  not  half,  of  the  returning  soldiers  for  whom 
it  is  planned  to  make  provision,  could  be  taken 
care  of  in  the  coastal  plain  of  the  South.  Here, 
I  am  convinced,  are  the  cheapest  lands  adaptable 
to  agriculture  in  the  entire  country — all  things 
considered. 

The  other  sections  of  the  Southern  district  which 
is  bounded  on  the  north,  roughly  speaking,  by  the 
Mason  and  Dixon  Line,  the  Ohio  River,  and  in- 
cluding Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  and  Eastern 
Texas,  and  on  the  west  by  the  98th  Meridian- 
offer  additional  and  important  opportunities. 

While  in  no  wise  failing  to  appreciate  the  ad- 
vantageous   conditions    existing    in   such    sections 

*[From  Who's  Who— 1918-1919.— Cory,  Harry  Thomas, 
Engineer;  born  Lafayette,  Ind.,  May  27,  1870.  B.M.E., 
Purdue  University,  1887;  B.C.E.,  1889.  M.C.E.,  Cornell, 
1893;  M.M.E.,  1896.  Assistant  Engineer  A.  &  M.  Rail- 
way, 18S8;  Assistant  City  Engineer,  Lafayette,  Ind.,  1889; 
Deputy  County  Engineer,  Tippecanoe  county,  Indiana, 
1890-2;  Professor  Civil  Engineering,  University  of  Missouri, 
several  years,  from  1893;  in  Europe,  1898;  Professor  Civil 
and  Sanitary  Engineering,  University  of  Missouri,  1898; 
Dean  Engineering  Department  and  Professor  Civil  Engin- 
eering, University  of  Cincinnati,  1900-3;  on  leave  of  absence 
from  University  of  Cincinnati,  1901-3,  with  Mexican  Cen- 
tral, Texas  &  Pacific  and  Southern  Pacific  Railroads;  Assist- 
ant to  General  Manager  Southern  Pacific  Co.,  July,  1904; 
May  1905.  In  persoanl  charge  of  diverting  Colorado  River 
from  running  to  Salton  Sea,  1906-7;  Assistant  to  President 
associated  Harriman  lines  in  Arizona  and  of  Southern  Pacific 
Railroad  in  Mexico,  May,  1905;  July,  1910.  General 
Manager  and  Chief  Engineer  of  the  California  Development 
Co.  and  La-Sociedad  de  Riego  y  Terrenos  de  la  Baja  Cali- 
fornia, 1906 — July,  1910.  Consulting  Engineer  at  San 
Francsico,  July,  1909.  Author— Imperial  Valley  and 
Salton  Sea,  1915;  Manual  of  United  States  System  of  Land 
Surveying,  1888;  also  Atlasse  of  Boone  (1888),  Clay  (1890)  and 
Tippecanoe  (1892)  counties,  Indiana;  also  technical  reports, 
scientific  papers  and  magazine  articles.  Member  American 
Society  Civil  Engineers  (Thomas  Fitch  Rowland  prize, 
1914).  American  Society  Mechanical  Engineers.  Home — 
Berkeley,  Cal.  Ofiice — Nevada  Bank  Building,  San  Fran- 
cisco.] 

''•4*  **V£ 


of  this  Southern  district,  I  will  confine  myself 
today  to  the  coastal  plain.  I  do  this  because  I 
was  myself  so  surprised  by  the  magnitude  and 
extent  of  the  opportunities  for  the  work  in  hand, 
that  it  may  be  profitable  to  here  consider  how  such 
a  condition  of  affairs  came  to  pass. 

Psychology  of  the  Trend  in  American  Colonization. 

The  American  people,  like  all  others,  have  their 
actions  largely  determined  by  ideas  generally 
current.  In  other  words,  they,  like  other  human 
beings,  tend  to  follow  like  sheep  the  way  they 
get  headed.  Since  the  Civil  War  the  trend  of 
emigration  has  been  westward;  it  is  still;  and  it 
will  continue  to  be  so  for  a  considerable  period, 
unless  it  is  broken  up  by  some  very  decided  and 
spectacular  activity.  The  colonization  movement 
southward  up  to  this  time  has  been  relatively- 
very  small  indeed. 

The  chief  reasons  for  this  are: 

1.  The  generally  accepted  expression — all  but 
a  proverb — "Go  West,  young  man,  and  grow  up 
with  the  country,"  coupled  with  enormous  areas 
of  free  government  lands  in  the  Western  States. 
The  part  which  the  existence  of  free  government 
lands  played  in  starting  the  trend  of  emigration 
westward  was  set  forth  yesterday  by  the  Hon. 
Clay  Tallman,  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land 
Ofhce,  and  set  forth  very  clearly  indeed.  The 
practical  result  of  the  expression  "Go  West,  young 
man,  and  grow  up  with  the  country,"  is  vastly 
greater  than  people  generally  realize.  It  is  a  part 
of  what  might  be  called  the  psychology  of  the 
times  and  situation.  This  psychology  involves 
a  number  of  other  things,  but  really  comprises 
habits  of  thought. 

To  digress  a  little  at  this  point,  it  may  be  proper 
to  point  out  that  the  habits  of  people  very  often 
profoundly  affect  the  prosperity  of  a  region.  An 
excellent  example  of  this  is  the  continuation  of 
the  South  in  raising  cotton,  corn  and  tobacco  until 
the  lands  are  so  impoverished  that  poor  crops  become 
the  rule,  instead  of  practicing  diversified  agricul- 
ture. Another  instance  is  the  psychology  of  the 
German  people,  which  throughout  the  past  three 
or  four  years,  has  been  a  constant  source  of  amaze- 
ment to  America  and  a  great  part  of  the  rest  of  the 
world.  Illustrations  like  these  could  be  given 
almost  without  limit. 


2.  The  widespread  impression  that  the  senti- 
mental difference  between  the  North  and  the 
South  during  the  war  tend  to  make  newcomers 
from  other  sections  uncomfortable.  This  im- 
pression has  its  foundation  more  in  the  recon- 
struction period  than  in  the  war  period,  and  has 
been  a  very  important  factor  in  this  whole  matter. 

3.  A  very  general  misconception  of  the  negro 
problem. 

4.  The  somewhat  subconscious  feeling  that  the 
South  is  unhealthy  because  of  the  yellow  fever 
epidemics  prevalent  some  years  ago.  This  again 
is  really  a  matter  of  psychology,  because,  while 
epidemics  of  many  kinds  passed  over  the  United 
States,  the  yellow  fever  epidemics  were  sectional 
in  character,  and  about  the  only  very  serious 
ones  which  have  been  confined  to  a  definite  section 
of  the  United  States. 

5.  The  vague  feeling  that  the  long  summers 
and  short  winters  generally  constitute  climatic 
conditions  tending — in  a  long  period  of  years — 
to  slow  undermining  of  aggressiveness  and  enter- 
prise. This  again  is  a  matter  of  psychology  and 
based  only  upon  the  general  impression  of  results 
achieved  in  commercial,  industrial,  and,  to  a  less 
extent,  agricultural  development. 

6.  The  existence  after  the  Civil  War  of  enor- 
mous forest  areas  in  the  Atlantic  and  Guif  Coastal 
plains  region  and  to  a  much  less  extent  in  the 
Piedmont  sections.  There  was  an  enormous 
stretch  of  pine  forest  reaching  from  Norfolk,  Va., 
to  Galveston,  Texas,  and  extending  back  well  into 
the  Piedmont  regions. 

Critical   Analysis   of  Such   Psychology. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  none  of  these  separate  ele- 
ments constituting  the  entire  psychology  of  the 
situation  will  bear  critical  examination.  The 
movement  westward  has  resulted  in  agricultural 
land  values  in  the  far  west  really  higher — every 
thing  considered — than  elsewhere  in  the  country. 
Then  it  turned  to  the  North  and  950,000  Americans 
went  over  into  Canada  in  the  great  settlement 
movement  of  the  Canadian  northwest.  There 
are  a  few  sporadic  instances  of  the  trend  turning 
backward,  and,  doubtless,  it  will  continue  to  in- 
crease more  and  more.  Nevertheless,  the  devel- 
opment of  the  North  and  West  continues  at  a 


greater  rate  than  that  of  the  South,  and  this  means 
opportunities  for  greater  advancement — not  nec- 
essarily greater  opportunities  for  advancement. 
Consequently  the  attractiveness  of  the  North  and 
West  for  ambitious  people  continues  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  the  South  and  such  movement  of  the 
ambitious  people  carries  along  other  types  which 
follow  rather  blindly,  and  without  much  thought. 

Concerning  the  second  point,  the  Southern 
people,  whose  opinions  are  really  worth  while, 
welcome  new  blood  and  new  capital.  Indeed,  it 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  South  really  wel- 
comes the  newcomers  about  as  much  as  the  West — 
with  less  enthusiasm  and  spirit  of  inspiring  hope- 
fulness, perhaps,  but  with  more  hospitality. 

The  negro  problem  in  many  ways  is  solving  itself. 
Those  of  us  who  have  really  had  personal  contact 
with  it  know  that  the  Southern  people  understand 
the  negro  problem  better  than  the  rest  of  the 
nation,  and  that  general  public  sentiment  in  the 
South  calls  for  essential  economic  justice  to  the 
negro. 

I  was  very  much  impressed — in  this  connection 
— with  the  attitude  of  some  Northern  and  many 
Southern  people  with  whom  I  have  discussed  the 
matter  of  provision  for  negro  soldiers  and  sailors 
who  return  from  the  war.  About  half  the  North- 
ern people  doubted  the  practicability  or  wisdom 
of  making  any  provision  for  such  colored  soldiers. 
On  the  other  hand,  I  did  not  meet  a  single  South- 
ern man  who  did  not  emphatically  say  that  re- 
turned negro  soldiers  should  have  equal  con- 
sideration in  the  proposed  policy  of  Secretary 
Lane  as  the  white  soldiers.  Many  times  Southern 
men  have  reminded  me  of  the  fact  that  there  are 
negroes  and  negroes,  just  as  there  are  white  people 
and  white  people,  and  in  both  cases  there  were 
some  deserving  and  some  underserving  people. 
The  opinion  was  almost  unanimously  expressed 
by  the  Southern  man  that  the  negroes  should  be 
segregated  and  kept  to  themselves,  but  the  unan- 
imity was  absolute  as  to  making  full  provision  for 
the  returned  negro  soldier  and  sailor. 

There  is  a  sort  of  inchoate,  vague,  but  none  the 
less  persistent,  abstraction  in  the  minds  of  North- 
ern and  Western  people  that  in  the  Southland  the 
negroes  do  the  manual  labor  and  by  that  token 
practically  insure  a  lower  social  caste  for  the 
white  worker.  I  was  quite  surprised  by  the  im- 
pression gained  on  my  trip  that  there  are  no  greater 


social  distinctions  in  the  South  than  in  the  West 
based  upon  the  classification  of  whether  people 
do  manual  labor  or  not.  There  is  a  social  dis- 
tinction between  the  laboring  classes  and  other 
classes,  in  the  South,  but  believe  me,  there  is  also 
a  similar  distinction  in  the  West  and  in  the  North. 
It  is  now  known,  and  has  been  for  a  few  years, 
that  yellow  fever  and  malaria  are  mosquito-borne 
diseases  and  that  the  mosquito  is  eliminated  by 
proper  drainage.  This  fact  has  made  it  practical 
to  remove  any  disadvantage  in  the  South  with 
respect  to  health.  It  must  in  all  fairness,  however, 
be  said  that  actually  such  disadvantages  have  not 
been  removed  as  yet.  When  the  mosquito  has 
been  largely  eliminated,  the  South  ought  to  be 
healthier  than  much  of  the  remaining  United 
States. 

In  passing,  it  may  perhaps  be  desirable  to  note 
that  the  hookworm  is  almost  exclusively  confined 
to  the  South,  but  that  is  a  matter  of  social  con- 
ditions, and  environment  which  obtains  in  but 
a  small  section  of  the  South,  and  has  no  bearing 
upon  the  health  of  the  Piedmont  and  Coastal 
Plain  regions. 

The  impression  that  long  continued  residence  in 
a  warmer  climate  reduces  individual  aggressiveness, 
initiative  and  energy  is  a  quite  general  and  per- 
sistent one.  It  is  entirely  untenable,  however,  at 
least  so  far  as  the  climate  of  practically  all  the 
Southern  States  is  concerned.  The  slowness 
of  development  in  the  South  is  an  unfortunate 
after-effect  of  the  Civil  War  and  a  few  other  trans- 
ient conditions. 

Fortunately,  the  assignment  of  large  numbers 
of  soldiers  from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  Southern 
cantonments  has  educated  very  many  Northern 
soldiers  and  sailors  pretty  thoroughly  as  to  Southern 
climatic  conditions. 

In  the  past  two  decades  enormous  areas  of  pine 
forests  have  been  denuded  of  their  merchantable 
timber,  and  the  lands  are  now  available  for  clearing 
and  are  now  ready  for  agricultural  uses. 

Desirability  of  Changing  the  Direction  of 
Emigration. 

The  present  war  has  shown  very  forcefully  the 
desirability  of  a  more  scattered  industrial  and  manu- 
facturing population.  In  the  recent  period  of 
war,    stress    transportation    facilities    and    other 

5 


essential  elements  of  industrial  and  manufacturing 
production,  broke  down.  The  more  thoughtful 
people  realize  that  considerable  change  is  highly 
desirable. 

The  sharp  rise  in  food  prices  which  began  before 
the  present  war  indicates  the  desirability  of  using 
for  agricultural  purposes  the  areas  best  suited 
for  cheap  food  production.  Perhaps  it  would 
be  more  correct  to  say  that  the  desirability  was 
shown  for  using  agriculturally  the  areas  best  suited 
for  maximum  food  production  given  man-power. 

The  South  is  nearer  to  the  dense  population  along 
the  upper  Atlantic  coast  than  the  West,  and  has 
cheap  water  transportation. 

For  these  and  other  less  important  reasons  it 
is  to  the  national  interest  to  divert  colonization 
southward,  so  far  as  that  can  be  done  without 
running  afoul  of  population  ambition  and,  per- 
haps, political  antagonism  of  other  sections  of  the 
country. 

Forestation  vs.  Agriculture. 

It  has  been  urged  that  forest  lands  be,  so 
far  as  possible,  continued  in  timber.  There  is 
much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  this  view.  Personally, 
I  am  convinced  that  the  agricultural  output  of 
the  country  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  available 
agricultural  land  as  it  is  of  agricultural  labor;  that 
if  all  the  available  agricultural  labor  in  the  country 
were  concentrated  on  one-half  of  the  areas  now 
cultivated,  a  greater  amount  of  food  would  be  pro- 
duced, and  with  better  social  conditions  at  a  less 
unit  cost;  that  an  increase  of  cultivated  area  is— 
with  available  agricultural  labor— not  only  un- 
necessary, but  really  undesirable;  that  the  forest 
areas  of  the  United  States  should,  on  the  other 
hand,  be  increased;  and  that  from  an  abstract 
point  of  view  the  best  uses  of  the  cut-over  lands 
of  the  South  would  be  reforestation. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  practical 
working  of  that  sort  of  thing  would  be  perma- 
nently to  keep  vast  areas  of  the  South  with  a  very 
small  population.  This  seems  to  me  to  be  pen- 
alizing the  South  because  of  the  transient  condition 
in  which  it  happens  to  be  at  a  time  when  a  totally 
new  segregation  of  lands  for  various  purposes  is 
suggested.  The  discrimination  against  the  South 
which  would  result  from  changing  the  forest  policies 
just  at  this  time  impresses  me  more  and  more  with 


its  unfairness  to  the  region  and  its  undesirability 
from  a  national  point  of  view. 

It  would  seem  fairer  that  the  Southern  cut-over 
lands  having  the  best  soil  be  cleared  and  put  to 
agricultural  use  and  that  the  poorer  areas  of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  etc.,  be  segregated  and  re- 
turned to  forestation.  In  other  words,  I  would 
distribute  the  cultivated  and  forest  lands  on  a 
somewhat  equitable  basis  over  the  whole  United 
States  and  not  saddle  a  disproportionately  large 
forest  area  on  the  South  to  the  permanent  disad- 
vantage of  the  Southern  States. 

The  ideal  thing  would  be  a  careful  survey  of  the 
whole  United  States  and  a  classification  and  segre- 
gation of  lands  everywhere,  to  the  end  that  the 
proper  cultivated  area  and  the  proper  forested 
area  should  be  secured,  and  that  the  agricultural 
areas  should  be  those  best  adapted  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  the  remainder  devoted  to  forestation. 
For  some  time  to  come  this  is  probably  out  of  the 
question,  but  it  is  very  unfair  to  the  South,  just 
at  this  stage,  to  stop  the  old  regime — to  change 
the  rules  of  the  game  after  the  cards  are  dealt,  as 
it  were — and  say  that  all  the  lands  not  now  under 
cultivation  which  will  grow  trees  should  be  con- 
tinued as  forests. 

Ability    to    Turn    the    Tide    of    Colonization 
Southward. 

Assuming  that  the  foregoing  line  of  reasoning 
is  accepted  and  that  it  is  desirable  to  turn  the  tide 
of  American  colonization  southward,  the  next 
question  is  can  it  be  done,  and  if  so,  how. 

It  probably  can  be  done,  but  if  so,  due  weight 
is  to  be  given  to  the  following: 

1.  The  population  of  the  United  States  is  not 
growing  as  rapidly  as  it  did  some  years  ago — 
speaking  relatively  rather  than  absolutely.  Since 
1914  this  has  been  quite  marked,  of  course  because 
of  the  world  war.  In  a  general  way,  however,  this 
country  is  beginning  to  share  with  France,  Ger- 
many, and  the  most  advanced  countries  in  the 
world  in  a  decreased  birth  rate.  The  birth  rate 
in  Germany  for  example  dropped  40  per  thousand 
in  1885  to  18  in  1912.  This  condition  of  affairs 
is  contrary  to  the  general  understanding  as  to 
the  increase  of  German  population. 

2.  Immigration  will  doubtless  continue  to  this 
country  and  tend  to  bring  westward  the  center 


of  the  world's  population,  but  the  total  man- 
power growth  in  this  country  from  this  source 
for  the  next  one  or  two  decades  at  least  will  be 
considerably  less  than  heretofore. 

3.  Consequently  the  growth  of  the  South,  so 
far  as  agricultural  labor  is  concerned,  even  though 
it  should  keep  pace  with  that  of  other  sections  of 
the  United  States,  would  not  be  very  rapid — not 
rapid  enough  at  least  to  absorb  the  agricultural 
possibilities  of  the  cut-over  timber  lands  alone  for 
a  long  time. 

4.  Therefore,  the  South  needs  and  should  have 
a  greater  influx  than  the  country  in  general.  This 
means  that  some  positive  and  spectacular  stamp 
of  approval  must  be  placed  upon  the  region  by 
an  authoritative  agency,  so  that  the  unfortunate 
psychology  existing  in  the  rest  of  the  United 
States  respecting  the  South  be  shattered. 

5.  If  the  National  Government  should  estab- 
lish three  or  four  colonies  in  each  of  the  Southern 
States  and  place  its  stamp  of  approval  upon  them, 
Baying  that  it  recommends  them  as  homes  for  its 
returning  heroes  as  freely  as  it  recommends  col- 
onies in  any  other  State  of  the  Union,  such  action 
would  go  far  toward  breaking  up  this  unfortunate 
attitide  vastly  farther  than  any  other  thing  of 
which  I  can  think. 

6.  In  addition  to  placing  the  Government's 
blanket  stamp  of  approval  on  such  Southern 
colonies,  as  distinct  from  approving  its  soil  condi- 
tions by  one  Government  bureau,  its  climatic 
conditions  by  another  bureau,  and  its  crop  pro- 
duction by  still  another  bureau,  etc.,  is  the  fact 
that  something  like  as  great  publicity  would 
be  given  to  the  Southland  as  has  been  given  to 
the  Western  sections  from  the  work  of  the  Recla- 
mation Service  in  the  arid  regions.  The  South- 
land has  never  had  anything  like  the  systematic 
advertising  of  the  West. 

For  example,  about  ten  days  ago  a  party  of 
four  of  us  sat  down  to  dinner  in  the  cafe  of  the 
Hotel  Wilmington,  in  Wilmington,  N.  C.  On  the 
bill  of  fare  were  five  California  products  set  forth, 
as  such,  three  of  them  right  down  the  line,  as  follows : 
New  California  lettuce,  new  California  celery,  new 
California  tomatoes;  the  other  two  were  California 
olives  and  California  prunes.  Investigation  was 
instituted  by  one  of  the  party,  who  was  nettled, 


and  I  was  later  informed  that  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
neither  the  lettuce,  celery  nor  tomatoes  came  from 
California,  but  from  the  South.  Ponder  care- 
fully upon  the  psychology  right  in  your  midst 
that  such  a  thing  should  occur  within  a  few  miles 
of  Mr.  Hugh  McRea's  colonies,  which  ship  north 
large  amounts  of  truck. 

The  plain  fact  is  the  South  needs  advertising 
— not  of  its  possibilities,  but  of  its  output.  Des- 
criptions of  each  of  the  many  United  States  Recla- 
mation Service  irrigation  projects  in  the  West 
have  appeared  in  all  kinds  of  popular,  serious  and 
technical  journals  to  such  an  extent  as  to  alone 
constitute  a  very  important  amount  of  adver- 
tising. This  has  indirectly  resulted  in  other  ar- 
ticles about  the  general  region,  having  a  total 
advertising  value  of  almost  equal  extent. 

It  is  always  the  spectacular  things  about  which 
people  most  read.  What  could  be  more  dramatic 
than  the  magically  rapid  transformation  by  re- 
turning soldiers  of  Southern  swamps,  wet  lands, 
and  cut-over  lands  into  the  very  highest  and  best 
type  of  rural  communities  which  it  is  possible  to 
plan? 

All  the  colonies  should  be  large  models  of  rural 
communities  for  any  region  and  commercial  dem- 
onstrations of  Southern  agricultural  possibilities, 
and  they  should  be  well  scattered  over  the  South. 
They  should  immediately  cause  surprise  and  ad- 
miration on  the  part  of  motorists  traveling  the 
Dixie  highways,  and  induce  the  most  favorable 
comparisons  with  the  best  types  of  agricultural 
development  in  the  country 

The  soldier  colonists  will  be  very  closely  knit 
together,  having  shared  the  same  dangers  and 
privations,  many  months  of  rigid  discipline,  and  all 
having  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  value 
of  co-operation — something  very  lacking  in  the 
average  farmer.  They  would  not  mix  very  gen- 
erally with  neighbors  outside  of  the  colonies  with 
different  standards  of  living.  Therefore,  the  per- 
sonal reactions  would  be  inward  and  toward  the 
co-operative  type  of  farm  life. 

All  the  colonies  would  also  have  a  great  deal  of 
influence,  for  it  is  quite  probable  that  men  now 
wearing  the  khaki  and  the  present  associates  of 
the  future  colonists  will  shortly  very  largely  domi- 
nate both  in  the  state  and  the  national  govern- 
ments. 


Such  colonies  would  really  constitute  centers 
of  infection  or  innoculation,  and  do  more  to  stand- 
ardize the  business  of  farming  in  a  decade  than  has 
so  far  taken  place  in  the  entire  history  of  the  country. 

Location  of  Colonies  in  the  Southland. 

Roughly  speaking,  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  Coast 
States  may  have  their  combined  areas  divided  into 
three  general  classes,  the  mountainous,  the  Pied- 
mont, and  the  Coastal  Plain  sections.  The  moun- 
tainous sections  are  not  adapted  to  agriculture, 
with  the  exception  of  a  relatively  small  so-called 
Thermal  Belt,  which  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  fruit 
culture. 

The  Piedmont  section  was  put  to  agricultural 
uses  first,  because  a  smaller  amount  of  clearing  was 
required;  the  soil  appealed  to  the  early  colonists; 
and  health  conditions  were  generally  better,  owing 
to  few  mosquitoes.  Consequently,  the  Piedmont 
section,  speaking  by  and  large,  is  well  cultivated, 
the  holdings  are  relatively  small,  and  the  average 
price  per  acre  is  fairly  high.  It  contains  most  of 
the  larger  towns  and  practically  all  of  the  manu- 
facturing industries. 

Therefore,  most  of  the  opportunities  in  the  South 
worthy  of  consideration  in  connections  with  col- 
onies for  returned  soldiers  and  sailors  are  in  the 
coastal  plain,  which  begins  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  and 
extends  to  Galveston,  Texas.  In  this  area  there 
are,  roughly  speaking,  below  the  100-foot  contour 
along  88,000,000  acres  of  land.  Practically  almost 
all  needs  drainage  of  a  more  or  less  important 
character. 

Speaking  broadly  it  can  be  said  that  a  very 
large  part  of  this  area  consists  of  fertile  soil  well 
adapted  to  general  agriculture  and  corresponding 
to  the  majority  of  good  lands  in  Indiana  and 
Ohio,  the  cropping  season  is  much  longer,  and  the 
period  during  which  live  stock  would  have  to  be 
fed  very  much  shorter.  Hence,  with  a  given 
amount  of  energy  greater  returns  may  be  secured 
per  acre  and  per  man-day  than  in  all  but  the  most 
fertile  sections  of  the  entire  country. 

Of  the  many  million  acres  of  such  lands  suitable 
for  the  purposes  at  hand  it  is  easily  possible  to 
have  several  colonies  ranging  from  75,000  to 
300,000  acres  in  size  scattered  over  the  coastal 
plain,   and  with  a  total  acreage  in  each  of  the 

10 


Atlantic  and  Gulf  plain  States  of  from  500,000  to 
1,000,000  acres.  Generally  speaking,  the  actual 
cost  to  the  colonist  of  going-concern  farms,  such 
as  hereintofore  outlined,  would  be  around  $80  to 
$100  per  acre.  Of  this  amount — speaking  gen- 
erally— the  costs  of  the  land  and  of  the  drainage 
therefor,  will  about  equal  each  other  and  together 
be  about  one-half  the  cost  of  clearing,  stumping, 
plowing,  and  putting  in  the  first  crop.  Roads, 
fences,  buildings,  etc.,  will  be  about  one-third  of 
the  total  investment. 

What  has  hitherto  been  a  serious  problem  in  the 
coastal  plain — the  very  large  holdings  of  land — 
is  here  a  great  advantage.  With  holdings  of 
50,000  acres  in  a  single  body — by  no  means  un- 
common thing — the  obtaining  of  large  colony  areas 
from  private  owners  is  enormously  simplified. 

The  investigations  of  land  areas  in  the  South 
have  not  called  for  elaborate  and  detailed  studies. 
The  areas  of  lands  which  can  be  developed  for  the 
purpose  herein  outlined  are  so  many  and  so  large 
that  attractive  sites  for  as  many  colonies  as  may 
be  desired  can  certainly  be  secured.  Essential 
data  are  available  at  this  time  for  many.  A 
considerable  number  have  been  personally  in- 
spected. Therefore,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
the  ability  to  secure  such  as  may  be  required  and 
at  a  fair  price. 

The  General  Program. 

So  much  for  my  idea  of  the  relationship  of  the 
general  proposed  program  to  the  territory  assigned 
to  me.  Now  a  few  words  as  to  the  general  plan 
itself. 

But  for  the  enormously  important  and  bewild- 
eringly  rapid  international  developments  of  the 
past  few  days,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  the 
Hon.  Franklin  K.  Lane,  would  have  been  here  and 
outlined  the  general  program  to  be  presented  to 
Congress.  Under  the  circumstances,  therefore, 
it  seems  desirable  that  there  should  now  be  set 
forth,  briefly  and  in  general  terms,  what  it  is 
planned  to  do. 

This  is  to — 

(1)  Make  suitable  and  worthy  provision  for 
such  of  the  returning  soldiers  and  sailors  as  may 
desire  rural  life  and  occupations,  and  along  the 

11 


general  line  followed  by  many  other  governments. 
Congress  will  be  asked  to  pass  the  necessary  legis- 
lation and  make  ample  appropriations  to  this  end. 

(2)  Enact  legislation  which  will  specifically 
provide  for  the  part  that  the  National  Govern- 
ment, the  part  that  the  States'  governments, 
and  the  part  that  private  land  owners  should  per- 
form. 

(3)  Further,  the  several  State  governments 
will  be  asked  to  pass  and  repeal  such  legislation, 
if  such  action  be  necessary,  to  enable  the  respective 
commonwealths  to  make  effective  the  proposed 
national  legislation. 

These  laws  taken  in  combination  will  provide 
the  machinery  for  carrying  out  in  this  country 
the  general  methods  which  have  already  been 
found  successful  in  other  countries  and  in  a  few 
States  of  our  own  country.  They  are  along  the 
general  lines  of  the  ideas  presented  to  this  congress 
and  indorsed  by  a  unanimous  resolution  thereof. 

Conclusion. 

Summing  up  briefly — there  are  four  fundamental 
factors  which  must  govern  any  successful  large 
movement  for  placing  our  returning  soldiers  upon 
the  land.     They  are: 

1st.  Providing  for  a  class  of  settlers  almost 
wholly  without  capital. 

2nd.  Creation  of  model  communities  with  such 
attractions  and  comforts  that  the  soldier  with  only 
a  small  equity  will  work  to  retain  it.  Certainly 
no  less  should  be  done  for  the  soldier  than  has  been 
done  for  the  employee  in  ship  building  or  munition 
plants. 

3rd.  Establishment  of  colonies  large  enough 
to  develop  community  spirit  and  enterprise,  and 
compact  enough  to  eliminate  loneliness  and  iso- 
lation. 

4th.  Provision  for  each  colony  of  advisers  who 
are  competent  and  experienced,  to  carry  the 
settler  through  the  formation  period  of  the  first 
three  years.  These  will  be  found  among  their 
own  comrades. 

5th.  The  opportunities  for  such  colonies  in 
every  State  in  the  Union  can  doubtless  be  found, 
and  certainly  exist,  in  profusion  in  the  South 
coastal  plain. 

12 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last 
date  stamped  below 


UiNlVli-Kbli  I   or  v,.«LIFORNIA 

A'> 

LOS  A"        LliS 

LIBRARY 


3  1UC 

PAT 

HD 
1516 

Cory  - 

U5C8 

Opportuni- 

South. 

.  ..                      .... .--...—   ^^B 

■ 

■ivV 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY 


FACILITY 


AA      000  188 


&_x 


•TJ& 


mmMA 


